CARLTON BYRD
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www.adventistreview.org<br />
February 21, 2013<br />
Adventists Plan<br />
NYC Outreach<br />
Feel the Power<br />
Further Testing<br />
8<br />
14<br />
30<br />
<strong>CARLTON</strong><br />
<strong>BYRD</strong><br />
BREATH OF<br />
LIFE SPEAKER/<br />
DIRECTOR<br />
TAKES NEW<br />
YORK BY<br />
STORM
“Behold, I come quickly . . .”<br />
Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His<br />
matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing<br />
Him better, and hope in His soon return.<br />
16 25 10 6<br />
COVER FEATURE<br />
16 Carlton Byrd Takes<br />
New York by Storm<br />
Celeste Ryan Blyden<br />
The talented ministry<br />
of Carlton Byrd and his<br />
dreams for the future<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Carlton Byrd, speaker/director of<br />
the Breath of Life television ministry,<br />
uses his talents to honor<br />
God and spread the good news.<br />
Cover photo by Dawin Rodriguez<br />
ARTICLES<br />
14 Feel the Power<br />
Homer Trecartin<br />
Are we connected? Or<br />
do we need a charge?<br />
22 iDols<br />
Vincent MacIsaac<br />
When do the devices<br />
meant to serve us become<br />
our masters?<br />
24 At the Well<br />
Galina Stele<br />
Jesus’ encounter with<br />
the Samaritan woman<br />
was no accident.<br />
28 The Eternal Chapter<br />
Lilian Han Im<br />
Thank God He knows<br />
us better than we<br />
know ourselves.<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
4 Letters<br />
7 Page 7<br />
8 World News &<br />
Perspectives<br />
13 Give & Take<br />
21 Cliff’s Edge<br />
27 Back to Basics<br />
30 The Life of Faith<br />
31 Reflections<br />
EDITORIALS<br />
6 Gerald A. Klingbeil<br />
Back to the Future<br />
7 Carlos Medley<br />
Living Examples<br />
Next Week<br />
A Journey of Faith<br />
and Healing<br />
The White Memorial Medical<br />
Center is celebrating 100 years<br />
of serving its community.<br />
Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® , Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun,<br />
vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik<br />
Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra<br />
Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel<br />
Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Marketing Director Claude Richli, Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward<br />
Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are available<br />
at the Adventist Review Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the Review.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed envelope to: Writer’s Guidelines, Adventist Review, 12501 Old<br />
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Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by<br />
permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of<br />
the Seventh-day Adventist ® Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® and is printed 36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth<br />
Thursdays of each month by the Review and Herald ® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, MD<br />
21740. Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® . PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 5<br />
Subscriptions: Thirty-six issues of the weekly Adventist Review, US$36.95 plus US$28.50 postage outside North America. Single copy US$3.00. To order, send your name, address, and<br />
payment to Adventist Review subscription desk, Box 1119, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1119. Orders can also be placed at Adventist Book Centers. Prices subject to change. Address changes:<br />
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www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (131) 3
inbox<br />
Letters From Our Readers<br />
www.adventistreview.org<br />
January 24, 2013<br />
January 24, 2013<br />
Vol. 190, No. 3<br />
Let Me serve you<br />
2013 world Budget<br />
Focuses on Mi sion<br />
Listening to atheists<br />
What’s a<br />
Body to Do?<br />
How not to panic<br />
wHen tHe doctor<br />
says, “it’s cancer.”<br />
Inspirational Review<br />
»»<br />
Wow! What an inspiring<br />
Review! I’m referring to the<br />
January 24, 2013, edition.<br />
First, “Listening to Atheists,”<br />
by Grenville Kent, is an excellent<br />
article. Never before<br />
have I seen printed the reasons<br />
atheists have for their<br />
beliefs (eternal hell, etc.).<br />
This article offers good ways<br />
to approach atheists.<br />
In KidsView C. D. Brooks’<br />
“Who Finished the Building?”<br />
is an excellent illustration<br />
of God’s miracles.<br />
Two articles, Gina<br />
Wahlen’s “What’s a Body to<br />
Do?” and Allan R. Handysides’<br />
“Coping With Cancer,”<br />
were enlightening in regard<br />
to cancer options. I am sure<br />
many families have been ravaged<br />
by someone close having<br />
cancer. These articles<br />
showed alternatives to what<br />
we normally do. Excellent!<br />
Art Miles<br />
Apison, Tennessee<br />
Taking the Hint<br />
»»<br />
I’m writing to thank<br />
Andrew McChesney for<br />
reminding us that God<br />
wants Christians to avoid the<br />
ways of the world (see “Taking<br />
the Hint,” Jan. 24). The<br />
way we talk, act, and dress<br />
7<br />
11<br />
14<br />
speak volumes for good or<br />
evil!<br />
Pam Cross<br />
Altamont, Tennessee<br />
www.adventistreview.org<br />
Religious<br />
Freedom in<br />
the United<br />
States<br />
January 17, 2013<br />
January 17, 2013<br />
Vol. 190, No. 2<br />
IS one of<br />
the most<br />
fundamental<br />
freedom<br />
unde attack?<br />
Religious Freedom<br />
in America<br />
»»<br />
With more than a little<br />
skepticism I began reading<br />
“Religious Freedom in America,”<br />
by Nicholas P. Miller<br />
(Jan. 17, 2013). But into the<br />
second page Miller began<br />
putting it all together with<br />
an impeccable discussion of<br />
“moral philosophy” and the<br />
“dissenting (free church)<br />
position” (in opposition to<br />
both right-wing Christian<br />
conservatives and left-wing<br />
liberals).<br />
Miller gives a nuanced<br />
discussion of a rational<br />
approach to current “football”<br />
issues—a rationale<br />
more Adventists should<br />
study. It places these issues<br />
within a framework of<br />
weighted factors, resulting<br />
in a fine-tuned balance. It<br />
avoids extremes and protects<br />
against future suppression<br />
of the minority religious<br />
view. If understood, Miller’s<br />
approach would minimize<br />
much of the polarization we<br />
find on many issues within<br />
our church and nation.<br />
Connie Dahlke<br />
Walla Walla, Washington<br />
r<br />
A Wave and a Gr eting<br />
Religiously Unaffiliated<br />
Swe l Worldwide<br />
Divine A sa sin?<br />
S<br />
7<br />
8<br />
26<br />
»»<br />
I appreciated the thoughtprovoking<br />
article “Religious<br />
Freedom in America.” In it<br />
Nicholas P. Miller writes:<br />
“This approach would also<br />
recognize the moral value of<br />
protecting the goals and<br />
ends of the child-raising unit<br />
of a mother and a father, and<br />
reserve its full approval for<br />
such relationships. Such an<br />
approach may allow for civil<br />
unions for tax and insurance<br />
purposes, but it would limit<br />
marriage and the right to<br />
raise children to heterosexual<br />
couples based on moral<br />
arguments about the purposes<br />
of procreation and the<br />
rights of children to benefit<br />
from the special care provided<br />
by a mother and a<br />
father.”<br />
This statement seems<br />
inconsistent with the issues<br />
or realities faced by single<br />
parents (who may or may<br />
not have previously been<br />
married) or by single persons<br />
who wish to adopt children.<br />
I know of singles who<br />
adopted. I also know of one<br />
single woman who raised a<br />
child conceived by artificial<br />
insemination. In these and<br />
other similar situations a<br />
sole person of either gender<br />
(both never married and previously<br />
divorced) has most<br />
assuredly successfully raised<br />
a child/children. There is no<br />
“natural” moral argument to<br />
allow the state to enforce or<br />
legislate the “right to raise<br />
children to heterosexual<br />
couples” and exclude everyone<br />
else. How unfortunate it<br />
would be for many children<br />
not to have the privilege or<br />
the “right” to be raised by a<br />
loving single person who is<br />
capable and desires to be a<br />
parent. In an ideal world<br />
every child would have the<br />
opportunity to be raised<br />
with two loving parents of<br />
both genders. . . .<br />
The most urgent attention<br />
is needed for repeal of the<br />
law prohibiting a counselor/<br />
preacher/physician/etc. from<br />
advising any person under<br />
18 who desires such counseling<br />
“to modify or alter samesex<br />
attractions.” This is<br />
dangerously foreboding and<br />
totally outside the realm of<br />
the state to legislate such<br />
(morality).<br />
“Denise”<br />
Location Withheld<br />
www.adventistreview.org<br />
January 10, 2013<br />
January 10, 2013<br />
Vol. 190, No. 1<br />
Ordination Study<br />
Commi t e Named<br />
Wi ling to Be Led<br />
God’s Peddler<br />
What Is a<br />
What Is a Mystic?<br />
»»<br />
It was with great disappointment<br />
that I read the<br />
article “What Is a Mystic?” by<br />
Eric Anderson (Jan. 10, 2013).<br />
Anderson has chosen to subtly<br />
guide the reader through<br />
a maze of semantic twists<br />
and turns in an unbiblical<br />
effort to justify the acceptance<br />
of “mystics” and “mysticism”<br />
into the Seventh-day<br />
Adventist spiritual life.<br />
Anderson first supports<br />
his thesis by quoting two<br />
early-twentieth-century<br />
writer/poets—Kathleen Norris,<br />
a Benedictine-trained<br />
Catholic, and Evelyn Underhill,<br />
who, going against her<br />
own spiritual mentor, was<br />
ultimately drawn into mysticism<br />
and Catholicism. It is<br />
concerning that the author<br />
advocates for the beliefs of<br />
8<br />
15<br />
27<br />
Mystic?<br />
Seeking<br />
companionShip<br />
with Christ<br />
4 (132) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
ow. Their health status now<br />
will impact our health-care<br />
system, military, labor force,<br />
economy, Social Security, etc.<br />
That’s why I was glad to<br />
see Allan R. Handysides and<br />
Peter N. Landless broach this<br />
topic in their December 27,<br />
2012, Ask the Doctors column.<br />
While they gave a lot of<br />
great statistics and facts outlining<br />
the problem, the doctors<br />
spent only the last two<br />
paragraphs talking about<br />
solutions for grandparents<br />
and parents to consider.<br />
Here are a few more<br />
resources that we recommend<br />
in our Family Fit program<br />
held at Loma Linda<br />
University’s Drayson Center:<br />
Super Sized Kids, by Walt<br />
Larimore, M.D., and Sherri<br />
Flynt, M.P.H., R.D., L.D.<br />
Disease-proof Your Child:<br />
Feeding Kids Right, by Joel<br />
Fuhrman, M.D.<br />
God’s Design for the Highly<br />
Healthy Child, by Walt Larimore,<br />
M.D.<br />
Kid Shape Café (150+ kidtested<br />
recipes), by Naomi<br />
Neufeld, M.D.<br />
www.superkidsnutrition.<br />
com—one of the best nutrition<br />
Web sites, packed with<br />
resources for kids and parents,<br />
by Melissa Halas-Liang,<br />
M.A., R.D., C.D.E.<br />
http://circle.adventist.org/<br />
download/PI-KidsExercise.<br />
pdf—an excellent kid fitness<br />
article for parents, by Chrissuch<br />
writers and suggests<br />
their counsel should guide<br />
an Adventist’s spiritual walk<br />
with God.<br />
An even greater concern is<br />
his implication that “mysticism”<br />
is affirmed by Ellen<br />
White. Numerous quotes<br />
from the Spirit of Prophecy<br />
warn strongly against mystics<br />
and any form of mysticism—calling<br />
it “satanic”<br />
and “spiritualism.” To suggest<br />
that White affirms the<br />
beliefs that she emphatically<br />
warns against disparages her<br />
as a prophet of God and blatantly<br />
affirms error.<br />
Anderson concludes by<br />
urging “Christian mysticism”<br />
as a “remedy” for<br />
Adventists today. Despite the<br />
clever semantics of the<br />
author, “Christian mysticism”<br />
is truly an oxymoron.<br />
The combination of the<br />
sacred (Christian) and the<br />
profane (mysticism) cannot<br />
be justified.<br />
Janet C. Neumann<br />
Walla Walla, Washington<br />
»»<br />
The author of “What Is a<br />
Mystic?” distorts the writings<br />
of Ellen White by implying<br />
that she was describing<br />
mysticism as the term is<br />
commonly understood. A<br />
footnote acknowledges that<br />
for White the terms “mystical”<br />
and “mysticism” were<br />
usually negative terms. Why,<br />
then, does Eric Anderson<br />
attempt to put a positive<br />
sheen on them? Mysticism<br />
could prepare the way for<br />
spirit guides that are not the<br />
Holy Spirit.<br />
We draw close to Jesus—<br />
not just by mountain<br />
retreats, quiet places, and<br />
prayer retreats, but also by<br />
active service for Him. The<br />
way White put it, Christ<br />
spent His life “between the<br />
mountain and the multitude.”<br />
Is it not possible to<br />
promote quality time with<br />
Christ without going down<br />
the same road as the Catholic<br />
mystics who retired from<br />
society to be “close to Jesus”?<br />
Cindy Tutsch<br />
Silver Spring, Maryland<br />
“We draw close to Jesus—not just by<br />
mountain retreats, quiet places, and prayer<br />
retreats, but also by active service for Him.<br />
”<br />
—cindy tutsch, Silver Spring, Maryland<br />
Pediatric Obesity<br />
»»<br />
Former U.S. surgeon general<br />
Richard Carmona once<br />
said, “The greatest threat to<br />
our national security is pediatric<br />
obesity.” Why? Because<br />
the kids and teens of today<br />
are our future; our tomortine<br />
Wallace, for CIRCLE, a<br />
resource for Adventist<br />
educators.<br />
Ernie Medina, Jr.<br />
Loma Linda, California<br />
John Lello<br />
»»<br />
Please pass on our deepest<br />
sympathy to Pam Lello and<br />
her children (see “Accident<br />
Kills John Lello in Papua New<br />
Guinea,” Dec. 27, 2012).<br />
Papua New Guinea has a special<br />
place in the hearts of<br />
everyone of the Knopper<br />
family. My brother-in-law,<br />
Peter Knopper, died at the<br />
Homu Bible School in 1988<br />
as the result of being shot.<br />
Any loss in our South<br />
Pacific Division is a reminder<br />
of the great sacrifice being<br />
made in spreading the love<br />
of Jesus to this dying world.<br />
May God be close to this little<br />
family that has been left to<br />
face the world without a husband<br />
and daddy.<br />
Corinne Knopper<br />
Cooranbong, New South<br />
Wales, Australia<br />
We welcome your letters, noting,<br />
as always, that inclusion of a letter<br />
in this section does not imply that<br />
the ideas expressed are endorsed by<br />
either the editors of the Adventist<br />
Review or the General Conference.<br />
Short, specific, timely letters have<br />
the best chance at being published<br />
(please include your complete<br />
address and phone number—even<br />
with e-mail messages). Letters will<br />
be edited for space and clarity only.<br />
Send correspondence to Letters to<br />
the Editor, Adventist Review, 12501<br />
Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD<br />
20904-6600; Internet: letters@<br />
adventistreview.org.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (133) 5
Editorials<br />
Gerald A.<br />
Klingbeil<br />
“How can 17<br />
million Adventists<br />
make a difference<br />
in a world of<br />
7 billion?”<br />
Back to the Future<br />
Around New Year’s, bloggers, columnists, editors, and<br />
pundits often dare a look into the proverbial looking glass. What’s the outlook for the economy?<br />
How will the political shadowboxing in Washington, D.C., play out? What will be the social<br />
phenomenon of the year? What surprises will we get from Cupertino—or any other small or big<br />
gadget company?<br />
You wondered about 2013 as you stepped into January 1. I did—and so did billions of others.<br />
With two teenagers and a preadolescent roaming the space of our home, change and action has<br />
become the Leitmotiv of our lives. What will happen in their lives in 2013? What will happen in<br />
the church we love and cherish in 2013?<br />
Every December The Economist publishes a special issue looking at the big picture of the coming<br />
year. 2013 was no exception. An issue, full of best guesses and (at times) thoughtful comments,<br />
also included a look by Edward Lucas, an international editor of The Economist, at what he thought<br />
2013 would bring for Christianity. * I was intrigued. Lucas sees secularism gaining ground (not<br />
really too difficult to discern) and bleak times for Christianity in Europe and the Middle East (we<br />
knew about that, but it’s good to remember that missionaries are needed to reach the crib of<br />
Protestantism and the region where most of the biblical stories happened). He forecasts tremendous<br />
tension within the worldwide Anglican Church and more splintering over gay issues, theological<br />
liberalism, and the role of Scripture for the practice of the church. He thinks that<br />
Catholicism will decline even further in Europe and North America—albeit not in Asia and Africa.<br />
Finally, Lucas suggests that Christianity as a whole will boom in eastern Asia, including also South<br />
Korea, China, and Taiwan.<br />
As I read this take on 2013 I found myself at times nodding or shaking my head. Lucas did not<br />
write about the Seventh-day Adventist Church—yet in my mind I compared his comments with<br />
our reality. Yes, Europe, Australia, and increasingly North America are becoming more secular by<br />
the day—including Protestant U.S.A. Yes, we are currently facing hot theological issues (think<br />
ordination of women) that will test our ability to study and stand together to the utmost. Yes, we<br />
are delighted to see tremendous church growth in Africa, Central and South America, and some<br />
other parts of the world. Yet this church is not like any other church. It is not just another denomination.<br />
At the risk of being severely chastised by some of our readers for being arrogant and<br />
conceited—this is God’s end-time remnant, a visible part of the larger universal church of people<br />
who are ready to follow the Lamb wherever He leads.<br />
This claim is not based on sociological or historical realities—it is based on Scripture and<br />
detailed further in the prophetic word. It translates into a call to mission and transformation,<br />
sharing a special message in a special time—in 2013.<br />
I feel overwhelmed by the numbers. How can 17 million Adventists make a difference in a<br />
world of 7 billion? How can .24 percent reach the remaining 99.76 percent? Jesus used the imagery<br />
of yeast leavening dough. In His time everybody had seen this at home. I am sure they could<br />
not explain too well the involved chemical processes—but they saw it work. I cannot see exactly<br />
how we will do it, but we will, because God’s Spirit guides this movement. I cannot really tell how<br />
we will resolve our theological questions—but we will, if we keep following the Lamb. I cannot<br />
even project what will happen in the lives of my family in 2013—but I want to walk confidently<br />
holding my Savior’s hand.<br />
So, just for a moment, set aside the numbers, threats, issues, and to-do lists. Lift up your eyes—<br />
and know that your salvation is near. n<br />
* Edward Lucas, “Christianity at Bay,” The Economist, December 2012, p. 29.<br />
6 (134) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Living Examples<br />
In January I had the rare opportunity to spend a few winter<br />
days in Florida—Miami, to be exact. The weather was sunny, and the temperatures reached more<br />
than 80 degrees in the daytime. The chance to wear summer clothes in the middle of winter was<br />
pure delight. The climate was in stark contrast to the freezing temperatures at home in Maryland.<br />
But despite wonderful weather, the occasion was a solemn one. Our family came together to<br />
honor the life of my mother-in-law, Elizabeth Krigger, who passed away in December at age 92.<br />
More than 200 friends and family members packed the modest-sized church to celebrate her<br />
life. She was remembered with music, the spoken word, acknowledgments, and reflections from<br />
friends, children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. The impact of her life was evident<br />
by the stories they shared, as well as the expressions of love that filled the service.<br />
As I reflected on the memorial, I couldn’t help realizing that the many acts of kindness my<br />
mother-in-law performed were a living example of what Christians everywhere should be about.<br />
By reaching out to neighbors, praying for a hurting coworker, or encouraging a young student or<br />
senior citizen, we are spreading the warm sunshine of Christ’s love and compassion in a cold,<br />
sinful world.<br />
Through acts of kindness we reflect the character of Christ to those around us. The apostle Paul<br />
said it well: “Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself<br />
wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into<br />
human lives” (2 Cor. 3:2, 3, Message).*<br />
As God looks into our lives He wants to see Himself. If we are willing, He will. n<br />
Carlos<br />
Medley<br />
* Texts credited to Message are from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000,<br />
2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.<br />
Say It Again!<br />
This month we remember the words from<br />
some Adventist African-Americans.<br />
FRANK HALE<br />
“If the General Conference, the union conferences, the local conferences, the publishing<br />
houses, the evangelists, the ministers, the missionaries, and the educational and medical<br />
institutions would all combine their powers to erase the smudge of racial segregation<br />
and discrimination among us, the whole system would crack and crumble overnight.<br />
Such a challenge is for us the living! I have no other plans but to accept this challenge.”<br />
—Former President of Oakwood College (1966-1971) to F. L. Peterson, May 3, 1961<br />
THE AEOLIANS<br />
“The Aeolians could sing passages from the phone book and still<br />
make you feel the presence of the Divine.”<br />
—Huntsville Times, November 1997. The Oakwood College (now University) choir,<br />
the Aeolians, have ministered through music since their organization in 1946.<br />
CHARLES BRADFORD<br />
“We need to recapture the word ‘movement’ and all that it implies.”<br />
—Former President of the North American Division (1979-1990), 1975<br />
Photos and quotes are courtesy of www.blacksdahistory.org. Visit the site for more information on African-American Adventists.
World News & Perspectives<br />
Photo: Rohann D. Wellington/GNYC<br />
MEMBERS IN TRAINING: Seventh-day Adventists from around the New York City metropolitan area listen<br />
to Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the General Conference, as part of a lay training series held throughout<br />
the region preparing for the NY13 evangelistic outreach.<br />
■■North America<br />
Adventists Prepare for<br />
New York City Outreach<br />
Training spans multiple sites; participants<br />
eager to reach neighbors for Christ.<br />
BY ADVENTIST REVIEW staff<br />
Hundreds of Seventh-day Adventists<br />
from the metropolitan New York area—<br />
where the overall population is estimated<br />
at 19 million, more than 50<br />
percent above that of metro Los Angeles—gathered<br />
at a series of January<br />
18-20, 2013, meetings to prepare for a<br />
major evangelistic outreach called NY13.<br />
The numbers, throughout the region,<br />
were impressive: 2,000 gathered at an<br />
auditorium at Hunter College in Manhattan<br />
for worship and training, and<br />
560 packed the Linden Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Church in Queens to attend<br />
Ernestine Finley’s Light Your World for<br />
God seminar on how to become an<br />
effective lay Bible instructor.<br />
More than 300 people—double the<br />
expected number—flocked to Harlem’s<br />
Fort Washington Spanish Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Church to hear Denzil McNeilus,<br />
a banker from Dodge Center, Minnesota,<br />
who represented the Adventistlaymen’s<br />
Services and Industries organization<br />
along with Robert Costa, General<br />
Conference evangelism coordinator,<br />
present a New Beginnings seminar to<br />
train lay preachers.<br />
Commenting on the attendees’<br />
enthusiasm, McNeilus said, “I am convinced<br />
that there are thousands of laypeople<br />
waiting to be challenged to do<br />
something significant for the Lord. They<br />
just need to be trained and equipped.”<br />
Noted Seventh-day Adventist evangelist<br />
Mark Finley taught a class on how to<br />
organize home Bible study groups<br />
focusing on the book of Daniel. His<br />
seminar was attended by more than 170<br />
people and was held in Manhattan’s<br />
Greenwich Village Seventh-day Adventist<br />
Church, which in June will see General<br />
Conference president<br />
Ted N. C. Wilson preach<br />
an evangelistic series<br />
there. Wilson began his<br />
pastoral work as a ministerial<br />
intern at the Greenwich<br />
Village church.<br />
Along with the lay<br />
training events, more<br />
than 1,400 youth gathered<br />
in two locations sponsored<br />
by the Greater New<br />
York and Northeastern<br />
conferences. These young<br />
people were challenged to<br />
be part of something<br />
great for God and use<br />
their influence to touch<br />
their friends with the gospel<br />
during NY13.<br />
Don King, president of<br />
the Atlantic Union Conference<br />
of Seventh-day Adventists,<br />
declared, “NY13 is a united approach<br />
bringing us all together to focus on<br />
reaching people in this great metropolitan<br />
area for Jesus.”<br />
During NY13 approximately 400<br />
evangelistic meetings will be conducted<br />
in the metropolitan New York area.<br />
Hundreds of churches and thousands<br />
of church members will be involved,<br />
Adventist leaders said.<br />
The massive evangelistic outreach in<br />
New York City is part of the Seventhday<br />
Adventist Church’s Mission to the<br />
Cities initiative. Church leaders at every<br />
level of church organization have identified<br />
630 major cities worldwide to<br />
focus their evangelistic energies and<br />
resources on in the next three years.<br />
This comprehensive evangelistic<br />
approach blends biblical principles<br />
with the practical, divinely inspired<br />
counsels of the Spirit of Prophecy to<br />
reach people living in these urban centers<br />
with Jesus’ end-time message of<br />
hope for our time.<br />
More information about the New<br />
York City outreach is available online at<br />
www.ny13.org. n<br />
—with information from Mark Finley<br />
8 (136)<br />
| www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
■■SOUTH AMERICA<br />
Brazilian<br />
Adventists<br />
Help in Healing<br />
After Santa<br />
Maria Inferno<br />
In wake of nightclub fire<br />
that killed hundreds, blood<br />
drive, first aid given.<br />
By Felipe Lemos, ASN,<br />
reporting from Brasilia, Brazil<br />
Seventh-day Adventist young<br />
adults in Brazil rallied to donate blood in<br />
the wake of the world’s deadliest nightclub<br />
fire in more than a decade.<br />
At least 231 partygoers died, and<br />
some 200 were injured, on January 27,<br />
2013, when a band’s pyrotechnics display<br />
ignited ceiling insulation at a club<br />
in downtown Santa Maria, about 200<br />
miles west of Porto Alegre in the state of<br />
Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost<br />
state of Brazil. The fire released flames<br />
and toxic smoke into the panicked<br />
crowd, and a stampede broke out,<br />
media reports indicate.<br />
As victims flooded local hospitals,<br />
medical staff urgently appealed to the<br />
ready to donate: Young donors participated in the Vida por Vidas blood drive.<br />
photos courtesy ASN<br />
site of tragedy: A fire at a nightclub in downtown Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul,<br />
Brazil, killed at least 231 people on January 27, 2013, and left hundreds injured, leaving<br />
area hospitals scrambling to restock blood banks.<br />
Adventist-run Vida por Vidas (“Life for<br />
Lives”) blood-donation organization in<br />
South America. The denomination is<br />
known for handling large-scale blood<br />
donation drives, especially in Brazil,<br />
where health officials estimate the project<br />
annually contributes 3.5 million<br />
units of blood.<br />
Blood donors gathered early on Sunday,<br />
January 27, at the Central Adventist<br />
Church in Santa Maria and immediately<br />
headed to the city’s Blood Donation<br />
Center, said Vida por Vidas coordinator<br />
Adriano Luz.<br />
Meanwhile, Adventist medical staff<br />
volunteered at local hospitals, among<br />
them Dr. Jocemara Fernandes, who<br />
received an emergency call to aid victims<br />
early Sunday morning.<br />
“The scene of horror and despair I<br />
witnessed was unprecedented in my<br />
experience,” Fernandes said. She has<br />
worked in a local emergency room for<br />
more than a decade.<br />
Fernandes treated at least 15 victims<br />
between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on Sunday.<br />
“Most people had problems related<br />
to smoke inhalation,” she said.<br />
Another young victim suffered second-degree<br />
burns and had difficulty<br />
breathing, Fernandes said. Most victims<br />
were under the age of 30.<br />
“What we can do now is pray, for the<br />
injured and the bereaved families, that<br />
God will help them,” Fernandes said.<br />
Santa Maria mayor Cezar Schirmer<br />
declared a 30-day mourning period, and<br />
local authorities continue to investigate<br />
the cause of the blaze, according to<br />
media reports.<br />
Vida por Vidas was launched in 2006<br />
and is overseen by young Brazilian Seventh-day<br />
Adventists. n<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (137) 9
World News & Perspectives<br />
■■GREATER MIDDLE EAST UNION MISSION<br />
Lichtenwalter<br />
to Lead Islamic<br />
Studies, Theology<br />
Faculty at Middle<br />
East University<br />
Veteran Adventist theologian<br />
has taught at Andrews<br />
University for 12 years.<br />
By Rachel Lemons, deputy director<br />
of communications, Middle East<br />
University, writing from Beirut, Lebanon<br />
Meu photos<br />
URBAN OASIS: Larry Lichtenwalter praised the Middle East University campus<br />
as an oasis in the middle of Beirut.<br />
The religion of Islam and the Middle<br />
East region are firmly situated within the<br />
global spotlight of modern society. With<br />
such prominence it is vital that the Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Church develop a<br />
solid understanding of the region and its<br />
dominant religion in order to effectively<br />
minister to, and interact with, its diverse<br />
inhabitants and adherents.<br />
Within the Adventist community,<br />
Middle East University (MEU) envisions<br />
itself as the knowledge center on topics<br />
that relate to, or intersect with, the Middle<br />
Eastern region, its religions, its cultures,<br />
and its languages. Central to this<br />
vision is the development and expansion<br />
of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic<br />
Studies, along with the Faculty of<br />
Theology, to be headed—as of March<br />
2013—by veteran Seventh-day Adventist<br />
pastor and teacher Larry Lichtenwalter,<br />
whose appointment was recently<br />
announced. Lichtenwalter’s breadth of<br />
experience promises to bring a unique<br />
perspective to the expansion and maturation<br />
of the programs, school officials<br />
believe.<br />
Lichtenwalter has served as pastor of<br />
Village Seventh-day Adventist Church in<br />
Berrien Springs, Michigan, for the past<br />
27 years. During this time he saw his<br />
pastoral ministry evolve to include academic<br />
roles as well. He recounts that<br />
over the past 12 years he has taught a<br />
class almost every semester at the Seventh-day<br />
Adventist<br />
Theological Seminary<br />
at Andrews University.<br />
He is the author of<br />
eight books and has<br />
published articles in<br />
various publications,<br />
including Adventist<br />
Review and Dialogue, a<br />
Seventh-day Adventist<br />
journal for college<br />
students.<br />
In Lichtenwalter’s<br />
estimation the MEU<br />
campus “is a little<br />
haven amid all the concentrated<br />
city that’s<br />
around it. It’s a lovely<br />
campus, and it has<br />
potential and room for<br />
the addition of more<br />
buildings.”<br />
In addition to the<br />
potential of the campus,<br />
Lichtenwalter believes that the Faculty<br />
of Theology and the Institute of<br />
Islamic and Arabic Studies have the<br />
potential to flourish as well. When<br />
asked about his vision for the programs,<br />
he said, “I think we have some very<br />
exciting possibilities. There’s no doubt<br />
that the multicultural and contextual<br />
setting of MEU has a lot to offer to any<br />
young person thinking about what to<br />
do with their spiritual life or how to<br />
NEW DEAN: Larry Lichtenwalter,<br />
a veteran Seventh-day Adventist<br />
pastor and instructor at Andrews<br />
University, will head the Institute<br />
of Islamic and Arabic Studies,<br />
along with the Faculty of Theology,<br />
at Middle East University in<br />
Beirut, Lebanon.<br />
serve. Our world has<br />
become more and more<br />
multicultural in its perspective.<br />
I believe this<br />
campus can provide<br />
some diversity in the<br />
theological realm that<br />
some other schools<br />
would not be able to.”<br />
MEU aims to provide<br />
a theology program<br />
that complements<br />
those of its sister universities<br />
around the<br />
world by providing a<br />
semester abroad, which<br />
complements the theological<br />
curriculum they<br />
are studying at their<br />
home universities. In<br />
charting out MEU’s<br />
niche in the space of<br />
theological education,<br />
Lichtenwalter<br />
described “a curriculum, a program<br />
where you have your Islamic and Arabic<br />
component. That is what MEU is seeking<br />
to serve.”<br />
Lichtenwalter completed his<br />
undergraduate studies at Southern<br />
Adventist University and his Master<br />
of Divinity and Ph.D. at Andrews University.<br />
He is married to Kathie, and<br />
they have five sons and two daughtersin-law.<br />
n<br />
10 (138) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
■■NORTH AMERICA<br />
Genesis Is Theme of 2013 VBS<br />
Program From AdventSource<br />
By Cassie Milnes Martsching, communication director,<br />
AdventSource, writing from Lincoln, Nebraska<br />
Exploring the Bible’s first book,<br />
Genesis, and learning fundamental<br />
truths about where the earth came from<br />
and God’s plan for their lives are activities<br />
provided for kids during Investigation<br />
Station: The Genesis Factor, the<br />
2013 Seventh-day Adventist Vacation<br />
Bible School program now available<br />
through AdventSource in Lincoln,<br />
Nebraska.<br />
Investigation Station: The Genesis<br />
Factor is an interactive VBS that teaches<br />
kids about Genesis and the God of creation.<br />
The kids, who act as junior investigators,<br />
will receive daily assignments<br />
related to the theme. As they travel<br />
through the daily learning stations, they<br />
will gather clues that will help them<br />
answer the question of the day.<br />
Each day the kids will dig into a Bible<br />
story found in Genesis, and they will<br />
learn that:<br />
God created the universe.<br />
God blessed the seventh day.<br />
God made rules that were broken.<br />
God is ready to save us.<br />
God helps us start over.<br />
Kids will also learn how science and<br />
nature support the Bible by watching<br />
interactive video segments featuring<br />
Rich Aguilera, Guide magazine creation<br />
columnist.<br />
A team of Seventh-day Adventist pastors,<br />
children’s ministry professionals,<br />
and VBS leaders developed the lessons<br />
with a passion for sharing the real creation<br />
story and God’s plan of redemption.<br />
Investigation Station contains<br />
Seventh-day Adventist beliefs including<br />
God as the Creator, the seventh-day Sabbath,<br />
baptism, and heaven. Each lesson<br />
is specifically designed to connect with<br />
commun ity children while engaging<br />
GENESIS THEME:<br />
The Bible’s first<br />
book, Genesis, is the<br />
theme of Investigation<br />
Station, the<br />
2013 Vacation Bible<br />
School kit from<br />
AdventSource.<br />
Adventist children in learning biblical<br />
truths.<br />
“VBS is one of the most effective outreach<br />
programs a church can offer,”<br />
AdventSource said in a statement. “Provide<br />
the families in your church and<br />
community with a fun and uplifting<br />
experience they will not forget by conducting<br />
the Investigation Station VBS at<br />
your church,” the group added.<br />
This program is available from<br />
AdventSource, at www.adventsource.org<br />
or 402-486-8800, or the Adventist Book<br />
Center, at 800-765-6955, or www.advent<br />
istbookcenter.com. The Investigation<br />
Station is available in English and<br />
Spanish.<br />
Investigation Station VBS was created<br />
by the Children’s Ministries Department<br />
of the North American Division in partnership<br />
with the Review and Herald Publishing<br />
Association and AdventSource. n<br />
Photo: adventsource<br />
■■GERMANY<br />
ADRA Germany<br />
Gains New<br />
Leader<br />
Molke follows Lischek, who<br />
started group 27 years ago<br />
By Adventist Press<br />
Service, Switzerland<br />
The Seventh-day Adventist pastor<br />
who founded and led the German branch<br />
of the Adventist Development and Relief<br />
Agency, ADRA, has retired after more than<br />
a quarter century in that role.<br />
“It is not difficult for me to retire<br />
from the management of ADRA Germany,<br />
because I know that my successor,<br />
Photos: Copyright © ADRA Germany<br />
LEADERSHIP CHANGE: Erich Lischek, left, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, retired<br />
recently as ADRA Germany country director. At right, Christian Molke, who is the new<br />
country director.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (139) 11
World News & Perspectives<br />
Christian, will meet the challenges of<br />
the international ADRA network,”<br />
declared Erich Lischek. He is leaving<br />
after organizing and developing ADRA<br />
since 1986. “As relief agencies we have<br />
learned to join forces in major disasters.<br />
I am grateful that I was able to support<br />
these efforts.”<br />
Lischek established ADRA Germany in<br />
Darmstadt in 1987, starting with only<br />
one part-time secretary. ADRA now has<br />
28 employees and 10 volunteers in the<br />
headquarters in Weiterstadt, close to<br />
Darmstadt. The charity also offers an<br />
apprenticeship in office communication.<br />
Günther Machel, chair of the ADRA<br />
Germany board, thanked Erich Lischek:<br />
“From a humble beginning ADRA has<br />
become a major relief agency. Lischek<br />
has shaped ADRA Germany, and he will<br />
continue to cooperate as managing<br />
director of the ADRA Foundation.”<br />
Christian Molke, also a Seventh-day<br />
Adventist pastor, is the new ADRA director,<br />
having begun his work in January<br />
2013. Previously he led the Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Church in the federal states of<br />
Hessen, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland,<br />
with 65 churches, 4,600 members,<br />
and 34 pastors. Molke transitioned to<br />
his new task in the summer of 2012.<br />
ADRA Germany is part of the global<br />
ADRA network, with 120 country offices.<br />
It is also a member of the country’s Joint<br />
Welfare Association (Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband)<br />
and cofounder of the<br />
Association of German Development<br />
NGOs (VENRO), Relief Germany, and<br />
Together 4 Africa. In cooperation with<br />
the Weltwärts project of the German<br />
state, ADRA Germany sends approximately<br />
15 volunteers per year to support<br />
projects in Albania, Costa Rica,<br />
India, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, and Tanzania.<br />
For additional information about<br />
ADRA Germany, visit the English-language<br />
section of the group’s Web site<br />
at www.adra.de/en/english.html. n<br />
■■NORTH PACIFIC UNION<br />
Hoover to Lead<br />
Upper Columbia<br />
Conference, Succeeding<br />
Folkenberg, Jr.<br />
Veteran pastor, administrator moves<br />
from Georgia-Cumberland Conference.<br />
By Jay Wintermeyer, Upper Columbia<br />
Conference communication director,<br />
reporting from Spokane, Washington<br />
Paul Hoover accepted the call to serve as president for<br />
the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.<br />
He will serve as president following Bob Folkenberg, Jr.’s<br />
recent move to the China Union Mission.<br />
Hoover says, “On behalf of Patti and myself, we want<br />
you to know we are deeply honored and humbled to accept<br />
the opportunity to serve with so many dedicated wonderful<br />
people. We look forward to following God’s leading<br />
and becoming a part of the Upper Columbia Conference<br />
family.”<br />
Hoover, currently vice president for administration for<br />
the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, grew up in several<br />
places around the world, as his father was in the military.<br />
He was baptized into the Adventist Church in 1977 in<br />
Tampa, Florida. Hoover attended Southern Adventist University,<br />
where he graduated in 1980 with a bachelor’s<br />
degree in theology, and then from Andrews University in<br />
1983 with a Master of Divinity degree.<br />
Photo: Upper Columbia Conference<br />
CONFERENCE LEADER: Paul Hoover, left, a veteran Seventhday<br />
Adventist pastor and administrator, is the new president<br />
of the Upper Columbia Conference, headquartered in Spokane,<br />
Washington. Patti, at right, is his wife and a registered<br />
nurse.<br />
He served as pastor in the Kentucky-Tennessee, Oklahoma,<br />
and Georgia-Cumberland conferences. In 1991 he<br />
accepted a call to the Georgia-Cumberland Conference and<br />
pastored the Smyrna-King Springs church and Calhoun,<br />
Georgia, church. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree<br />
from Andrews University in 2001.<br />
Hoover enjoys running, golf, road biking, and spending<br />
time with his family. His wife, Patti, is a registered nurse.<br />
They have two grown sons. n<br />
12 (140) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Illustration: © Phil McKay/good salt.com<br />
share with us<br />
We are looking for brief submissions in<br />
these categories:<br />
Sound Bites (quotes, profound or<br />
spontaneous)<br />
Adventist Life (short anecdotes, especially<br />
from the world of adults)<br />
Jots and Tittles (church-related tips)<br />
Camp Meeting Memories (short,<br />
humorous and/or profound anecdotes)<br />
Please send your submissions to Give &<br />
Take, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia<br />
Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; fax:<br />
301-680-6638; e-mail: marank@gc.adventist.org.<br />
Please include phone number, and<br />
city and state from which you are writing.<br />
Sound Bite<br />
adventist life<br />
Me: “Chloe, guess what? You get to have lunch with your favorite guy in the world!”<br />
Chloe: “I get to have lunch with God?”<br />
I explained to my young daughter that she would be having lunch with her secondfavorite<br />
guy in the world—Daddy.<br />
—Heather Cross Young, Nashville, Tennessee<br />
Morning conversation with 2-year-old Noah:<br />
“Do you know what today is?” I asked with a big smile on my face.<br />
Noah: “Sabbath!”<br />
“No, Noah, today’s only Monday. Today is another special day. Your birthday!”<br />
For him, the only special day is Sabbath!<br />
—Wendy Engelmann, Germany<br />
“When no one else would<br />
be caught dead with us,<br />
He was not ashamed<br />
to call us brothers.”<br />
—Pastor Jim Howard, during<br />
his December 22, 2012, Christmas<br />
sermon.<br />
herald’s trumpet<br />
Hi, kids! Herald’s trumpet is once again hidden<br />
somewhere in this magazine. If you find it, send a postcard<br />
telling us where. Be sure to include your name and<br />
address! Then we’ll randomly choose three winning<br />
postcards.<br />
In our last contest (November 15, 2012) we stumped<br />
almost everyone! We had 4 entries. Who were the winners?<br />
Micah Garcia, from Albuquerque, New Mexico;<br />
Alex Meier, from Beltsville, Maryland; and Ilcias Vargas,<br />
Jr., from Ringgold, Georgia. Each received a book from<br />
Pacific Press and a KidsView beach ball. Where was the<br />
trumpet? On page 29.<br />
If you can find the trumpet this time, send your postcard<br />
to Herald’s Trumpet, Adventist Review, 12501 Old<br />
Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. The<br />
prize will be . . . a surprise! Look for the three winners’<br />
names in the May 9, 2013, edition of the Adventist<br />
Review. Have fun searching, and keep trumpeting<br />
Jesus’ love—and His second coming!<br />
© terry crews<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (141) 13
Devotional<br />
P<br />
FEEL<br />
the<br />
ower<br />
Comparing Peter<br />
at Pentecost<br />
and Saul<br />
at Ramah<br />
BY<br />
HOMER<br />
TRECARTIN<br />
Click, click, click, click, click. With<br />
a sinking feeling in the pit of<br />
your stomach you get out<br />
and look under the hood,<br />
whether or not you know<br />
what to look for. You text a friend, call<br />
AAA, or just stand there gazing longingly<br />
at any approaching vehicle.<br />
Jumper cables? You flail them at passersby.<br />
At last some angel arrives, hooks<br />
up the cables, and signals you to stick<br />
the key in the ignition and turn. Vrrrrrooooommmm!<br />
Ah, power!<br />
We may not understand our cars, but<br />
we understand the need for power. We<br />
purchase gadgets that plug into our<br />
phones or computers to provide a boost<br />
of power. Our heat pumps and cars<br />
often have a setting that gives us a quick<br />
blast of heat or cold. Advertising bombards<br />
us every day, promising us a sudden<br />
rush of energy if we will just eat,<br />
drink, or swallow this or that. Oh, yes.<br />
We believe in power.<br />
There were no cars, power adapters,<br />
or energy drinks in Bible times. And<br />
many of us do not understand the<br />
Bible’s farming language about early<br />
and latter rains. But we do get the talk<br />
about power—Holy Spirit power, latterrain<br />
power. We get the power talk. We<br />
want to hook up jumper cables!<br />
Power for What?<br />
We love to talk about the promise in<br />
Joel 2:28, 29: sons and daughters prophesying,<br />
old men dreaming, servants<br />
Spirit-anointed. But what’s the power<br />
for? Why do we pray for latter-rain<br />
power? What do we think it will accomplish?<br />
A ripened harvest? Not primarily.<br />
The harvest is already ripe, Jesus<br />
declared; we should pray for laborers.<br />
Stirred-up laborers then, His sleeping<br />
church? Now, that sounds good! Like<br />
hooking up to heaven’s jumper cables<br />
for one final jolt of power! Like latterrain<br />
energy propelling us from rocking<br />
chairs out into the world with the final<br />
message! Perhaps.<br />
14 (142) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Before we settle back in those rockers<br />
to wait for the rain, let us ask ourselves:<br />
Could not God pour out His Spirit on a<br />
sleeping church? Could He not suddenly<br />
and powerfully speak through dozing<br />
saints to call the world to repentance?<br />
He spoke through Balaam’s donkey. He<br />
can make stones cry out.<br />
But is that the planet’s need? Talking<br />
animals, crying stones, sleep-talking<br />
saints? Remember, the talking donkey<br />
didn’t convert Balaam, and the promise<br />
of shouting stones didn’t convert the<br />
Jewish leaders. Besides, might it be that<br />
our nodding and dozing actually robs<br />
us of the rain? Too late we may discover<br />
that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit<br />
was taking place all around us, and we<br />
didn’t even notice.<br />
King Saul<br />
In 1 Samuel 19:19-24 Saul learns that<br />
David is with the prophet Samuel in<br />
Ramah. He sends contingent after contingent<br />
of soldiers to capture him, but<br />
the Holy Spirit overpowers them all, and<br />
they begin to prophesy. Finally, completely<br />
frustrated, Saul sets out to seize<br />
David himself. The Spirit overwhelms<br />
him too, and, prostrated naked before<br />
Samuel, he prophesies all that day and<br />
night. But though these soldiers all<br />
prophesied, they were not changed. Nor<br />
was anyone converted who listened to<br />
King Saul. People simply mocked: “Did<br />
you see that? Looks like Saul has become<br />
one of the prophets!”<br />
What makes the difference between<br />
Peter at Pentecost and Saul at Ramah?<br />
Nothing good came of Saul’s overpowering.<br />
He simply made a fool of himself.<br />
For in reality the Holy Spirit’s power is<br />
effective only if our lives match the message.<br />
Saul’s life did not match the message<br />
he was giving while under the<br />
power of the Holy Spirit. He had not let<br />
the Spirit mold, shape, and change him<br />
all along. When the power came over<br />
him, the temporary contrast was so<br />
great that it just made people laugh. The<br />
power he experienced didn’t last, and it<br />
didn’t change him, or anyone else, one<br />
single iota.<br />
The final, mighty outpouring of the<br />
Holy Spirit doesn’t change the direction<br />
we have been going, either. Its power<br />
simply pushes us farther and faster to<br />
wherever we were already headed.<br />
To come back to our jumper cable<br />
illustration, if my tires are flat and my<br />
radiator punctured, the power surging<br />
through the cables will do nothing to<br />
get me where I am going. Connecting<br />
red to positive and black to negative and<br />
getting ignition will not suddenly transform<br />
my car. The power surge will not<br />
even send me in a new direction.<br />
Temporary bursts of power, even<br />
those from heaven, do not force us to<br />
change direction; they only push us on<br />
Nothing good<br />
came of Saul’s<br />
overpowering.<br />
He simply made a<br />
fool of himself.<br />
in the direction we are already heading.<br />
And they are effective only if the rest of<br />
the system is in proper operating order.<br />
This is why we so desperately need<br />
revival and reformation. Our hearts<br />
must know the gentle working of the<br />
Holy Spirit now, not just a power surge<br />
sometime tomorrow.<br />
Is the Soil Ready?<br />
Joel’s promise of rain and a full<br />
threshing floor (Joel 2:23, 24) will never<br />
be fulfilled if nothing is planted before<br />
the rains come. The vats will overflow<br />
with juice and oil only if vineyards and<br />
olive groves have been planted and<br />
tended. The latter rain does not change<br />
the crop, it only enhances what is<br />
already planted in the soil.<br />
When I plant and fertilize, everything<br />
is ready. The rains then make it grow.<br />
What comes up is what is there already.<br />
The same is true when the latter rain<br />
ripens the harvest. It brings wheat and<br />
weeds to maturity. It does not change<br />
what is in the field.<br />
My wife, Barbara, and I were on our<br />
way to the airport in Delhi, India. The<br />
night clerk from the hotel was riding<br />
along in the hotel taxi with us. His eyes<br />
were heavy from being up all night, and<br />
his head was nodding. He was going<br />
home to rest.<br />
Suddenly, unexpectedly, a few big<br />
drops of rain splattered on the windshield.<br />
Almost instantly his eyes perked<br />
up. Softly, excitedly, he looked back and<br />
said, “Look, sir, the rain has come.” Then<br />
he turned back to watch. Gone were the<br />
tired lines around his eyes. His back was<br />
straight; his lips curved in a slight smile.<br />
This was no downpour, just a couple of<br />
stray drops of water on a dusty road. To<br />
the young hotel clerk those drops were<br />
filled with hope and promise. Rain was<br />
coming at last.<br />
I, too, have seen the rain beginning to<br />
fall. Jesus is about to return. Seeds are<br />
being planted. People are praying<br />
together, pleading with God to soften<br />
the soil of their minds, asking the Lord<br />
of the harvest to send out laborers, praying<br />
for the outpouring of the latter rain.<br />
This will not be merely a burst of<br />
temporary power. When this power<br />
comes, it won’t be for just a day, and it<br />
won’t embarrass us. It will finish the<br />
work that we have allowed God’s Spirit<br />
to begin in our hearts and lives today.<br />
Look, sir, look, madam, the rain has<br />
come! n<br />
Homer Trecartin is president<br />
of the Greater Middle East<br />
Union Mission.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (143) 15
Cover Story<br />
<strong>CARLTON</strong> <strong>BYRD</strong><br />
TAKES NEW<br />
YORK BY<br />
STORM<br />
And Los Angeles,<br />
Atlanta, Nashville,<br />
Huntsville . . .<br />
By<br />
Celeste<br />
Ryan<br />
Blyden<br />
Image digitally altered from a photograph by Dawin Rodriguez.<br />
Carlton Byrd always felt that he was born to<br />
pastor, born to preach, born to be an evangelist.<br />
He grew up in the ministry, grew up wanting to<br />
be a pastor, and loves to speak. Now he speaks<br />
many times a week and sometimes twice a<br />
Sabbath. On this particular night he’s in the Bronx, a borough<br />
of New York City, preparing to speak for the NY13 kickoff rally<br />
at the North Bronx Seventh-day Adventist Church. And he<br />
can hardly wait to preach, to fire up the base and get<br />
members here excited about the 2013 major city evangelism<br />
campaign set to blanket the city that never sleeps.<br />
16 (144) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
It’s the first of hundreds being organized<br />
by the worldwide Adventist<br />
Church, but for Byrd, it’s another opportunity<br />
to further Christ’s mission: “I love<br />
the Lord, I love people, I want to go to<br />
heaven, and I want to take as many people<br />
with me as I can,” he states, flashing<br />
the signature smile he wears above his<br />
signature bow tie. “God called us to take<br />
this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ to<br />
everyone, everywhere, and I’m just glad I<br />
get to do it full-time.”<br />
Photo: Celeste Ryan Blyden<br />
“I Ran to Ministry”<br />
Full-time, Byrd is a pastor, evangelist,<br />
and the newest speaker/director for<br />
Breath of Life (BOL), the television ministry<br />
founded 39 years ago by Walter Arties<br />
to bring hope and guidance to the African-American<br />
community. Thousands<br />
have accepted Christ through its evangelism<br />
efforts, often held in stadiums and<br />
major venues in cities across North<br />
America and other parts of the world.<br />
Byrd, whose nickname is “Buddy,” took<br />
the helm just two years ago at age 38 and<br />
was glad to get the opportunity<br />
to follow in the<br />
footsteps of the revered<br />
C. D. Brooks and Walter<br />
Pearson, Jr., his predecessors.<br />
Though it has been<br />
only a short time, he’s<br />
hoping his message will<br />
penetrate the noise that<br />
convolutes today’s urban<br />
community.<br />
It’s getting through in Long Island,<br />
New York, where Alecia Anderson<br />
watches Breath of Life on Friday evenings.<br />
“Can I take a photo with you?”<br />
asked the 20-year-old member of Long<br />
Island’s Riverhead church soon after<br />
Byrd arrived at North Bronx. The flash<br />
of Byrd’s smile prompted the flash of<br />
her father’s camera, and then it was on.<br />
After her father, Orley Anderson, got a<br />
turn, others jumped up.<br />
“He’s my favorite preacher,” said Orley,<br />
who identified himself as the first elder of<br />
the Riverhead church. Orley arrived two<br />
hours before the announced NY13 program<br />
time to secure a seat. “He makes the<br />
message so clear and simple. He’s a powerful<br />
[speaker], sure of what he’s saying.”<br />
Alecia, who relished meeting Byrd,<br />
agreed. “He’s inspiring, and I understand<br />
what he’s saying.”<br />
That may be because Byrd understands—his<br />
calling, his purpose, and<br />
what it takes to do ministry. “Ministry<br />
is service,” he told me afterward as we<br />
sat in the tiny, white-walled media room<br />
in the attic of the church overlooking<br />
the sprawling two-story sanctuary of<br />
the North Bronx church. Byrd is constantly<br />
engaged in ministry. And surrounded<br />
by it. His dad, William Byrd, is<br />
a pastor in West Palm Beach, Florida,<br />
and his mom, Carol Byrd, is superintendent<br />
of education for the Southeastern<br />
Conference, headquartered in an<br />
Orlando suburb. His father-in-law, too,<br />
is a pastor. In early years Byrd memorized<br />
the conference directory, read and<br />
filed letters for his dad, and attended<br />
many weeks of prayer and tent meetings,<br />
all because, as he put it, “I wanted<br />
to be there.” And he adds, “I was born to<br />
do this.”<br />
Byrd didn’t run from God’s call. He ran<br />
to it. “I arrived at Oakwood [College, now<br />
University] knowing what I needed to<br />
do,” he recounted with surety. “Some pastors<br />
told me to run [away], but I didn’t.”<br />
He’s been running ever since, trying<br />
to follow a path paved by the renowned<br />
Adventist pastors and evangelists who<br />
influenced his life—his dad, E. C. Ward,<br />
Pearson, Brooks, Benjamin Reaves, and<br />
E. E. Cleveland.<br />
Path to Success<br />
His first assignment out of Oakwood<br />
was to pastor the South Central Conference’s<br />
Laurel, Columbia, and Soso, Mississippi,<br />
congregations, which probably<br />
could have met in his car. The Laurel<br />
church, for example, had two members.<br />
“I didn’t worry about that because I<br />
knew it was going to grow,” he mused.<br />
“I worked hard, cut the grass at the<br />
church, painted—anything that was<br />
needed, I did it.”<br />
He also conducted a series that<br />
yielded three baptisms. This increased<br />
the membership by 150 percent, making<br />
Byrd the top evangelist per capita in<br />
the conference that year. At summer’s<br />
end the conference sent him to the Seventh-day<br />
Adventist Theological Seminary<br />
at Andrews University in Berrien<br />
Springs, Michigan, to complete his Master<br />
of Divinity degree. Later he earned<br />
an M.B.A. at Tennessee State University<br />
in Nashville, and a Doctor of Ministry<br />
with an emphasis in African-American<br />
religious studies at Andrews.<br />
After graduating, Byrd was sent to<br />
pastor in Tuscaloosa and Eutaw, Alabama,<br />
where he ran his first tent effort<br />
and baptized 19 people. This was followed<br />
by Nashville, where he pastored a<br />
“God called us to take<br />
this wonderful gospel of<br />
Jesus Christ to everyone,<br />
everywhere, and I’m just<br />
glad I get to do it full-time.”<br />
FAITHFUL VIEWERS: During the NY13 event this past fall, Carlton Byrd poses with Orley and Alecia Anderson.<br />
new church plant and baptized 300 people<br />
in four years. That’s where Byrd<br />
believes he really became an evangelist.<br />
It’s also where he started doing what he<br />
dubbed “tract attacks,” which involve<br />
identifying a community, going door to<br />
door, soliciting Bible studies, and praying<br />
with people. Byrd tries to recruit the<br />
entire church to participate. On Sabbath,<br />
right after worship and before<br />
lunch, members take to the streets and<br />
take communities for Christ.<br />
The method also worked in Houston,<br />
Texas, where Byrd baptized 500 people<br />
in three years and then in Atlanta, Georgia,<br />
where he baptized 1,800 in five<br />
years and grew the church to include<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (145) 17
The responsibility of<br />
leading such a large<br />
church and Breath of Life<br />
simultaneously hasn’t<br />
slowed [Byrd] down. If<br />
anything, it has spurred<br />
[him] to want more, do<br />
more, dream more.<br />
FAMILY TIME: Carlton Byrd, with wife, Danielle, and daughters Caileigh (10, on left) and Christyn (12).<br />
4,000 members, two services, a<br />
50-apartment senior citizen housing<br />
complex, barbershop, beauty salon,<br />
health fitness center, food pantry, clothing<br />
distribution center, youth activity<br />
center, vegetarian sub shop and juice<br />
bar, and a women’s shelter.<br />
Byrd has just completed his first year<br />
in Huntsville, Alabama, as senior pastor<br />
of the Oakwood University church,<br />
where he’s currently based. Sure<br />
enough, not long after he arrived, he was<br />
in the pulpit promoting “tract attack<br />
Sabbath.” About 1,500 of his 2,000 members<br />
joined him, and after just eight<br />
months and one meeting they’d baptized<br />
about 200 new believers.<br />
The responsibility of leading such a<br />
large church and Breath of Life simultaneously<br />
hasn’t slowed him down. If<br />
anything, it has spurred Byrd to want<br />
more, do more, dream more. “I’m<br />
excited, invigorated, on fire for the<br />
Lord,” he beams.<br />
And still running. Byrd dashed from<br />
our interview to another with Hope<br />
Channel cohost David Franklin in the<br />
sanctuary of the North Bronx church.<br />
It’s Friday night in the Bronx, but last<br />
Sabbath Byrd was in Atlanta. Tuesday he<br />
traveled here to New York, Wednesday<br />
he held a BOL rally at the Linden church<br />
in Queens, followed by another at<br />
Elmont Temple in Long Island Thursday<br />
night. Tomorrow he’ll preach the 11:00<br />
service at the Ephesus church in Harlem.<br />
Then he’ll make his way to the<br />
Brooklyn-based Hanson Place church<br />
for a 6:00 event. Sunday he’ll officiate a<br />
funeral at his home church in Huntsville,<br />
on Monday and Tuesday he’ll hold<br />
BOL board and executive committee<br />
meetings at the North American Division<br />
(NAD) offices in Silver Spring,<br />
Maryland, and then head home to conduct<br />
Wednesday night prayer meeting.<br />
Afterward he’ll reunite with Danielle,<br />
his wife of 15 years, and their 12- and<br />
10-year-old daughters, Christyn and<br />
Caileigh.<br />
Listening to his itinerary I wondered<br />
aloud if anything had ever slowed him<br />
down. Challenged him, stopped him.<br />
“My daughter,” he said, suddenly getting<br />
quiet. “She was 4-and-a-half<br />
months old.”<br />
Stopped in His Tracks<br />
The story unfolds: “It was September<br />
25th, 1999. We left the north side of<br />
Nashville en route to Tuscaloosa to<br />
speak for an event at the church I’d pastored<br />
early on. We had been having car<br />
trouble; our car wasn’t sounding right.<br />
On the south side of town, we stopped<br />
at our head elder’s home. He switched<br />
cars with us and we took his SUV. Fourteen<br />
miles from our destination, the car<br />
started doing flips. We were all knocked<br />
unconscious. When I came to, I was<br />
lying in the median. We all were. My<br />
wife started screaming. Our daughter<br />
was not moving. The ambulance came<br />
and took our daughter to one hospital,<br />
us to another. When I got to where she<br />
was, she was on a respirator. The next<br />
day the physician told me that if she<br />
didn’t wake up by noon of the following<br />
day, they would take her off<br />
the respirator.”<br />
The Byrds prayed and<br />
prayed. “We just knew she<br />
was going to make it. I knew<br />
she was going to make it. But<br />
she died in my arms,” he said.<br />
“I was mad at God. I said, ‘I<br />
labor for You as a minister; why<br />
would You allow this to happen<br />
to me? I don’t smoke, I<br />
don’t drink, I got married and<br />
then had kids.’ My life had been<br />
very ordered,” he explained. “I<br />
did things the way they were<br />
supposed to be done—<br />
ordered. Yet here was a real tragedy that<br />
happened to [us]. I didn’t read it in the<br />
paper, it didn’t happen to somebody else,<br />
it happened to us.”<br />
“How did you get through it?” I asked.<br />
“Prayer,” came the answer, “a whole<br />
heap of prayer.<br />
“I tell people, ‘God wouldn’t take you<br />
to it if He couldn’t bring you through it.’<br />
Even though you can’t see it and you<br />
don’t understand it, and it doesn’t make<br />
sense . . . God will bring you through the<br />
storm. He will, He will, He will, He will,”<br />
he repeated until his voice trailed off.<br />
A few weeks later, Byrd, 27 at the<br />
time, came across, as if for the first<br />
photo: Dawin Rodriguez<br />
Photo courtesy of the Byrd family<br />
AUDIENCE APPEAL: During Carlton Byrd’s sermon<br />
18 (146) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
casts airing on Hope Channel, which<br />
also airs on DirecTV 368; Three Angels<br />
Broadcasting Network; the Word Network;<br />
and local subsidiaries in Atlanta<br />
and Huntsville. And John Huynh, an<br />
intern also based at the media center,<br />
helped Byrd develop a presence on Facebook<br />
and Twitter, an online store, and a<br />
mobile app to allow smartphone users<br />
easy access to sermon archives. He also<br />
e-mails three-minute Breath of Fresh Air<br />
devotional videos that contain edited<br />
snippets of Byrd’s sermons and serve as<br />
spiritual appetizers for recipients.<br />
In the pastor’s study at the North<br />
Bronx church, the driven and choleric<br />
Byrd also wants to share some needs.<br />
“We need to get Breath of Life on some<br />
mainstream television networks, and,<br />
even there, I will continue to preach<br />
[Adventist] doctrine because people<br />
need to know what we believe and that<br />
we’re a Christian community that celebrates<br />
Christ by keeping His commandments,”<br />
he said.<br />
In addition, Byrd sees a need to book the<br />
half-hour preaching program on subsidiary<br />
networks in major metropolitan areas<br />
so when he prepares to conduct a series of<br />
meetings, the church can promote it and<br />
locals can view it before the evangelistic<br />
meeting begins in the community.<br />
This brought him<br />
to the need for<br />
usable, televisionquality<br />
programs.<br />
“Though there are<br />
churches that bear<br />
our name, we also<br />
need to establish<br />
some televisionready,<br />
satellite BOL<br />
churches,” he said.<br />
“These churches<br />
should be seekersensitive,<br />
missionoriented,<br />
and in a<br />
nice facility, because<br />
they will be the face<br />
of Adventism to<br />
viewers.”<br />
Finally, Byrd<br />
believes BOL needs<br />
an outreach compotime,<br />
1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation<br />
has overtaken you except such as is<br />
common to man; but God is faithful,<br />
who will not allow you to be tempted<br />
beyond what you are able, but with the<br />
temptation will also make the way of<br />
escape, that you may be able to bear it”<br />
(NKJV).<br />
“God spared my life,” Byrd now concludes,<br />
“because I wasn’t ready; or perhaps<br />
He still had a work for me to do; or<br />
maybe it was all of the above. I surmised<br />
that it’s all of the above.”<br />
As a result Byrd is more passionate<br />
about the mission. “I’m not just talking,<br />
I’ve lived it,” he says, “I’ve lived [through]<br />
tragedy and survived. . . . My sense of<br />
urgency for the second coming has<br />
grown tremendously.”<br />
at NY13, congregants raise their hands to an appeal.<br />
Needs and Next Steps<br />
Since December 2010, when he took<br />
over the storied, albeit financially<br />
strapped, media ministry, Byrd has<br />
traveled extensively to raise awareness,<br />
raise funds, and conduct evangelism<br />
initiatives. The field services arm,<br />
directed by Danielle, is reaching out to<br />
donors with personal letters and<br />
updates. BOL manager Linda Walter,<br />
based at the Adventist Media Center in<br />
Simi Valley, California, keeps the broadnent,<br />
so that when a natural disaster<br />
occurs they’ll have people on the ground<br />
ready to help. “We need to be actively<br />
engaged in community ministry and service,”<br />
he concluded before heading to the<br />
platform to share a sermon from Acts 21<br />
titled “Prison Break.”<br />
Fired Up<br />
Then, just as Alecia Anderson from<br />
Long Island and her dad, Orley, expected,<br />
Byrd presented a simple and clear message<br />
punctuated by Bible reading, storytelling,<br />
and his trademark doxology.<br />
As good people of the Book, the Friday<br />
night worshippers of various hues<br />
and cultures didn’t miss a beat. “The<br />
church that prays together,” Byrd<br />
started, testing the waters.<br />
“Stays together!” they finished in<br />
unison.<br />
“ ‘For he shall give his angels charge over<br />
thee,’ ” he quoted Psalm 91:11 (KJV) . . .<br />
“ ‘To keep thee in all thy ways!’ ” they<br />
rejoiced.<br />
“ ‘No weapon formed against thee,’ ”<br />
he began, citing Isaiah 54:17 (KJV) . . .<br />
“ ‘Shall prosper,’ ” they cheered.<br />
Some were now on their feet, and<br />
when Byrd moved from texts to songs,<br />
they quickly chimed in: “ ‘If it had not<br />
been for the Lord on my side,’ ” he<br />
crooned in melodious tenor, “ ‘Where<br />
would I be?’ ” they chorused.<br />
With the hour spent, the sweat pouring,<br />
and his mission of firing up the<br />
base accomplished, Byrd brought the<br />
message home: “Let’s take New York by<br />
storm!” he shouted to thunderous<br />
applause. “Let’s take New York by<br />
storm! Let’s take (pause) New York<br />
(pause) by storm!”<br />
He did. And they will. n<br />
Celeste Ryan Blyden enjoys<br />
telling stories about what God<br />
is doing in and through His<br />
people in the Columbia Union,<br />
where she serves as communication<br />
director.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (147) 19
Cliff’s Edge<br />
A Self-refuting Phrase<br />
Funny how you can read a text for years, then read it again<br />
expecting nothing new but finding something new.<br />
“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of<br />
life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7, KJV).<br />
The Hebrew reads that God formed “the man,” as in one person. The words “his nostrils” reflects the<br />
singular again, as does the phrase “and the man became a living being” (NIV). The relevant verbs and nouns<br />
and possessive pronouns in Genesis 2:7 show that one man, the man, was created.<br />
In contrast, Genesis 1:26 reads: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our image, according to our<br />
likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air’ ” (NKJV). In this verse<br />
“man” comes without the definite article “the.” The word “man” refers here to humanity, plural, as<br />
revealed in the clause that immediately follows: “and let them [plural] have dominion over the<br />
fish of the sea.”<br />
In Genesis 2:7 “the man,” this one man, is created first; then afterward God breathed into<br />
“his nostrils the breath of life” and that man became “a living being.”<br />
Now, what good are nostrils without lungs? And human lungs are useless without blood.<br />
And human blood demands a heart. And a heart needs (among many things) a sophisticated<br />
nervous system, which in a human means a brain. If the man had nostrils, he had<br />
a face, and if he had a face, he had a head, which means a skull, and so forth.<br />
Everything about that text implies that the man was created as a whole entity first, but a<br />
lifeless one. Only after having a complete human body did he become a “living being.”<br />
Thus, if I take at face value my theistic evolutionary friends’ claims to revere the Scriptures, I<br />
ask them in all sincerity, How can evolution be harmonized with this text? Can’t you see an irreconcilable<br />
contradiction between it and even the broadest evolutionary scheme? Why would the<br />
Lord have inspired the writing of this creation model when, in fact, He used an entirely different<br />
one? What good is the text if the opposite of what it teaches is true?<br />
Because science points to the evolutionary model, we have no choice but to meld the two. Yet evolutionary<br />
science is at best—what? Twenty percent of hard-core empirical evidence stretched and extrapolated<br />
into 80 percent speculation shaped by metaphysical assumptions constructed around<br />
culture, peer pressure, psychology, philosophy, and other variables that have little to do with<br />
immediate science. Why pit such subjectivity against an explicit biblical text?<br />
Also, evolutionary theory is based on natural selection and random mutation. That’s natural, as opposed<br />
to supernatural, selection. And random mutation? How random could that be if God was guiding it along? The<br />
names of these processes themselves rule out divine intervention, making the phrase “theistic evolution”<br />
self-refuting.<br />
Richard DeWitt, in Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, writes: “So if one adds<br />
a supernatural involvement into the account of evolution by natural selection, say by allowing a God to<br />
meddle in the evolutionary process, then it is no longer natural selection. One is no longer taking natural<br />
science, and evolutionary theory, seriously. In short, taking natural science seriously means that an account<br />
of evolutionary development that is importantly influenced by a supernatural being is not an intellectually<br />
honest option” (p. 313, Kindle edition).<br />
He said it, not me.<br />
Usually at this point I begin to snort, chortle, and rail. I don’t want to now. Instead, I humbly ask someone<br />
to explain to me how you can, with a straight face, meld Genesis 2:7 with an evolutionary model of<br />
origins.<br />
We all have to put our faith in something. What I don’t understand is how those who claim to believe in<br />
the Bible can put their faith in what is, in light of Genesis 2:7, so contradictory to it. n<br />
Cliff<br />
Goldstein<br />
Clifford Goldstein is editor of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide. His latest book, Shadow Men, is available from<br />
Signs Publishing in Australia.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (149) 21
As I See It<br />
Smartphones,<br />
smart apps,<br />
smart spirituality<br />
BY<br />
by VINCENT MACISAAC<br />
WE promising to be a game<br />
live in a world that not only<br />
craves but demands the next<br />
big gadget breakthrough<br />
changer. Even major international news services<br />
such as CNN are quick to stream “keynotes” from<br />
Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple, that promise to<br />
change our lives. We know the names of the CEOs<br />
of computer companies as if they were baseball,<br />
football, or music stars. It seems all that Tim Cook<br />
(and the late Steve Jobs), Eric Schmidt, Mark<br />
Zuckerberg, and Steve Ballmer are missing are<br />
trading cards with their quarterly earning stats on<br />
them—but then I bet there is already an app that<br />
can do that for us.<br />
22 (150) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
We can’t fight it. This world is changing,<br />
and those who don’t keep up will be<br />
left behind. Even e-mail is currently<br />
scheduled to be a dead medium. It is literally<br />
yesterday’s news. Instead Facebook,<br />
Google+, and a host of other<br />
instant social media platforms are giving<br />
us a taste of our immediate tomorrows.<br />
It’s like the Verizon 4G LTE commercials<br />
say: “That is so four seconds ago!”<br />
Church and Technology<br />
I am glad to note that our church is<br />
not being “left behind” or showing up<br />
as “Johnny came late” to the party!<br />
Major Adventist media groups sport<br />
apps, churches are streaming services to<br />
a worldwide audience, church buildings<br />
are being equipped with Wi-Fi, and<br />
every day my Sabbath school app pops<br />
up on my Droid Bionic reminding me to<br />
study my Sabbath school lesson. Preachers<br />
regularly preach from iPads, Kindles,<br />
and a variety of electronic tablets. People<br />
who are traveling in this digital world<br />
Skype into board meetings, and conferences<br />
are held in Google+ hangouts all<br />
the time. Printed agendas are becoming<br />
a thing of the past as my church leaders<br />
prefer to show up to committee meetings<br />
with laptops and tablets instead.<br />
Most important, we see the gospel reach<br />
places where just five or 10 years ago it<br />
would have been impossible to have a<br />
digital presence. I cannot help hearing<br />
the words of Jesus echo in my ear: “And<br />
this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed<br />
throughout the whole world as<br />
a testimony to all nations, and then the<br />
end will come” (Matt. 24:14). 1<br />
Beware of the Technology Pit<br />
So, is there a downside to all of this? I<br />
mean, what more can we want when the<br />
church is keeping relevant and the gospel<br />
is being preached? Is this not a<br />
dream come true for us?<br />
Yet I worry. I worry about the environment<br />
we are creating in which church<br />
members and, yes, even pastors openly<br />
chastise each other over our technology<br />
Let’s use<br />
current<br />
technology<br />
to transform<br />
the world,<br />
and at<br />
the same<br />
time, let’s<br />
not be<br />
transformed<br />
by it.<br />
choices. I worry about a<br />
world in which someone<br />
using an Apple, a<br />
Droid, or (dare I say it)<br />
a PC is like declaring<br />
yourself openly a<br />
Republican or Democrat,<br />
or, worse yet, a<br />
theological liberal or<br />
conservative. Wait,<br />
wasn’t the whole point<br />
of technology to bring<br />
us together, not tear us<br />
apart? Can we afford to<br />
let it tear us apart? And<br />
what does it say about<br />
us as a society and as<br />
members of a worldwide<br />
community of<br />
faith when we only<br />
dream of the next “latest<br />
and greatest” gadgets?<br />
We toss out or<br />
“Craigslist” perfectly good technology<br />
rather than come to church and be seen<br />
with last year’s model smartphone or<br />
tablet. When I think of the counsel our<br />
forefathers were given about costly living<br />
and self-adornment I wonder if we<br />
just found a new way of doing the same<br />
old sins covered in those “little red<br />
books” written more than 100 years<br />
ago—and, ironically, all available in an<br />
app on my tablet?<br />
Don’t get me wrong. I am not antitechnology<br />
whatsoever. Rather, on the<br />
contrary, my church members have<br />
affectionately called me “the technology<br />
pastor,” and I have innovated new uses<br />
of interchurch services via Internet<br />
streaming in my conference. But as Jim<br />
Collins so poignantly said: “When used<br />
right, technology becomes an accelerator<br />
of momentum, not a creator of it.” 2<br />
I am reminded of the words of the old<br />
hymn: Our “hope is built on nothing<br />
less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”<br />
Here is my point: Let’s use current<br />
technology to transform the world, and at the<br />
same time, let’s not be transformed by it. God<br />
surely is the ultimate Creator of technology,<br />
and He has allowed it to surface<br />
right now for a purpose. We better not<br />
be like the Gentiles in Romans 1 who<br />
worshipped the creation and not the<br />
Creator. Let’s not forget that there will<br />
come a time when it is all shut off. Let’s<br />
not make “iDols” of our technology,<br />
engaging in the world’s newest form of<br />
false spirituality. When the next über<br />
gadget does finally come, I don’t want to<br />
forget it is all about the ultimate keynote<br />
“Game Changer”—Jesus. Let’s make<br />
sure we keep moving forward with Jesus<br />
and His cross at the center of all our<br />
innovations and technologies. n<br />
1<br />
Scripture quotations in this article are from The<br />
Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001<br />
by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.<br />
Used by permission. All rights reserved.<br />
2<br />
Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: Harper<br />
Collins, 2001), p. 152.<br />
Vincent MacIsaac, “Pastor<br />
Vinnie,” serves the Arlington<br />
and Fairfax Seventh-day<br />
Adventist churches in the<br />
northern Virginia area<br />
just outside of Washington, D.C. He is married<br />
to TinaLynn MacIsaac, and this year marks<br />
their twentieth wedding anniversary.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (151) 23
Heart and Soul:<br />
Biblical Studies<br />
BY GALINA STELE<br />
Illustration by Steve Creitz<br />
At noontime Jesus sat at Jacob’s well. Jews did not<br />
usually pass through Samaria to get to Galilee from<br />
Jerusalem; they preferred to go around it. But<br />
Jesus’ actions have their own reasons.<br />
Jacob’s well sat at the entrance of a<br />
valley with about 80 springs of water, a<br />
pearl of the Promised Land full of grass,<br />
flowers, plums, nuts, figs, pomegranates,<br />
oranges, and grapes—a valley of beauty,<br />
history, and theological significance.<br />
Gerizim and Ebal rose from it, mountains<br />
that were the site of Israel’s covenant<br />
renewal after they crossed the<br />
Jordan river (Deut. 27:12, 13). Its cities of<br />
Sychar and Shechem were historic too.<br />
God appeared here to Abraham—<br />
newly arrived at Shechem in response<br />
to God’s call—promising the land to<br />
him and his offspring. Abraham’s<br />
response? An altar “to the Lord, who<br />
had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7); his<br />
first altar in the Promised Land. Jesus,<br />
the seed of Abraham, seated at the well,<br />
was God personally fulfilling His promise<br />
to make Abraham “a blessing” for<br />
“all peoples on earth” (verses 2, 3).<br />
There was sad history too: Years after<br />
Abraham, Jacob, his flocks, and his family<br />
came to this valley and its many<br />
springs did not belong to him. But “for<br />
a hundred pieces of silver, he bought<br />
Are you thirsty?<br />
from the sons of Hamor, the father of<br />
Shechem, the plot of ground where he<br />
pitched his tent. There he set up an<br />
altar” (Gen. 33:19, 20). Again the place of<br />
worship! He dug a well, more than 100<br />
feet deep. Finding fresh water of the<br />
Spirit can demand as much!<br />
Everything was good in this beautiful<br />
valley until something ugly happened<br />
to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter: a violation<br />
that sparked her brothers’ rage<br />
and a bloody massacre (Gen. 34:25). It<br />
was a terrible night for the people of<br />
Shechem—all the male population bru-<br />
tally killed; trust was betrayed; good<br />
intentions to join God’s people mocked<br />
and denied by the very ones who built<br />
an altar to the true God in this valley.<br />
His name was on their lips, but their<br />
lives cried out the opposite.<br />
What a disappointment to God!<br />
Descendants of Abraham, supposed<br />
blessing to the whole<br />
world, acting like terrorists.<br />
Instead of love, hope,<br />
and truth, they brought<br />
hatred and death to the<br />
city they were supposed<br />
to reach. Their altar stood<br />
outside, but no tabernacle<br />
was within their hearts<br />
where God could dwell. Someone says,<br />
“You can fight the devil with such frantic<br />
zeal that in the long run you look<br />
like him.” How sad it is when people<br />
around see such a discrepancy between<br />
our truth and our spirit, between our<br />
altars—places of worship—and our<br />
ways of life. The good news is that Jesus<br />
visits the places where we build our<br />
altars to Him. There He brings His living<br />
water.<br />
No wonder Jesus<br />
decided to go<br />
through Samaria!<br />
This place meant so much to Him! Now<br />
syncretism ruled in the land of His early<br />
altars. Samaritans did not deny God; they<br />
believed in Him, even worshipped Him.<br />
But as with us today, they believed and<br />
worshipped as they pleased. God was on<br />
their lips, but their lives were far from<br />
Him. Jesus came to Samaria because He<br />
had living water for them.<br />
From Form to Life<br />
Jesus comes into the mess of our lives<br />
and transforms everything. He turns<br />
our places of worship into a way of life,<br />
a life of worship in spirit and truth. His<br />
stop at Jacob’s well shows a different<br />
attitude toward those who thirst and do<br />
not know the well.<br />
Dinah’s brothers justified their righteous<br />
indignation. Jesus could have<br />
been righteously indignant with the<br />
woman at the well. Five husbands is<br />
unusual, even for the twenty-first century.<br />
Sadly, it was not unusual at all in<br />
the first century. Dinah’s brothers<br />
fought sin with swords and hatred;<br />
Jesus chose to solve it with love and living<br />
water. He could rebuke the woman,<br />
At the<br />
accuse her; but instead He was willing<br />
to share with her the power that would<br />
transform her life.<br />
Jesus’ request for water surprised<br />
her. Giving water to a tired stranger was<br />
a great privilege, even an obligation for<br />
people in the East. Water was considered<br />
a gift from the Lord. To ask a<br />
woman for water was not so surprising,<br />
since women were the ones who generally<br />
drew water. But she was surprised<br />
because He asked to drink from the vessel<br />
of a Samaritan woman. Jews could<br />
buy certain dry food from Samaritans<br />
that did not convey defilement, and we<br />
know the disciples went to buy food.<br />
But water and wet food were different.<br />
Amazingly, Jesus is not afraid to use us<br />
as His vessels, imperfect as we are.<br />
In response to her questions, Jesus<br />
directed the woman’s attention toward<br />
something more important than physical<br />
thirst—soul thirst. He confronted<br />
her sin. He touched a delicate area of<br />
her private life and pushed her out of<br />
her comfort zone to awaken her thirst<br />
for righteousness.<br />
Unless we admit our sins, we won’t<br />
24 (152) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Well<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (153) 25
Whatever we believe<br />
about worship,<br />
we have to share<br />
Jesus’ view on worship.<br />
see our need for living water. We’ll<br />
always be thirsty. But whoever drinks<br />
what Jesus provides finds within themselves<br />
“a spring of water welling up to<br />
eternal life” (John 4:14). Only Jesus can<br />
give us this regenerating power of living<br />
water that will turn our hatred into<br />
love, our selfishness into agape service.<br />
And He does it at the places of our<br />
personal altars, places symbolic of our<br />
temptations and falls, and, at the same<br />
time, the places of our victories because<br />
of Him. At those places He washes us<br />
with the transforming power of living<br />
water and turns our places of mere form<br />
and ritual into the way of vibrant life.<br />
Spirit and Truth<br />
The Samaritans were waiting for a Messiah.<br />
They called Him Taheb and believed<br />
He would return and restore true worship.<br />
The woman called Jesus a prophet<br />
but ended up accepting Him as Messiah.<br />
Jesus’ conversation directed the woman’s<br />
attention to the issue of true worship,<br />
where spirit and truth are united.<br />
Only when we understand the true function<br />
of worship—to satisfy our spiritual<br />
thirst and transform us into the image<br />
of the One we worship—will there be<br />
harmonic unity between God’s Word,<br />
His truth, our message, our spirit, and<br />
our attitude toward each other. Whatever<br />
we believe about worship, we have<br />
to share Jesus’ view about worship. The<br />
time has come when “the true worshipers<br />
will worship the Father in the Spirit<br />
and in truth” (verse 23). This is what<br />
God is looking for (verses 19-24).<br />
Spirit and truth; living water and the<br />
bread of life. In our story Jesus gives the<br />
water, the disciples bring the bread.<br />
Bread and water were significant features<br />
of the sanctuary ritual. Are they<br />
together in our lives? Are nourishment<br />
and refreshing united in our worship?<br />
Our discussion of worship uses forms of<br />
the Greek word proskuneo 10 times in<br />
John 4:19-25. The word includes ideas<br />
such as “to kiss the hand” (of a superior),<br />
“to prostrate oneself,” “to bend the<br />
knees,” “to bow down,” “to adore,” “to<br />
worship.” This kind of worship can be<br />
expressed in song: “Crown Him, for He<br />
is worthy! Crown Him!” True worship<br />
admits His only and supreme authority.<br />
The primary purpose of worship is not<br />
just to share or read some thoughts for the<br />
day, to deliver or find interesting information,<br />
to entertain our youth or newcomers,<br />
or to prepare a lecture. The primary center<br />
of true worship was, is, and should be God<br />
the Ruler of the universe, our Creator and<br />
Redeemer who should be adored, worshipped,<br />
and obeyed.<br />
The Outcome<br />
Jesus decided to go through Samaria<br />
because the harvest was ripe, because He<br />
wanted to reach that city. How did He do<br />
it? The secret is thirst. He awoke the woman’s<br />
thirst; He targeted her thirst. And she,<br />
who wanted to escape the crowds,<br />
brought crowds to the well herself.<br />
When our place of formal worship<br />
becomes the way of vibrant life, then we<br />
worship in truth and in spirit. Not only<br />
are we revived, we are reformed as well.<br />
Jesus becomes visible in our lives, and<br />
we cannot hide Him any more than we<br />
can hide water in our pockets. The power<br />
of Jesus as the living water revives worshippers<br />
at the place of worship and<br />
leads them to the reformation of the life<br />
of true worship. Our lives become sermons,<br />
a revelation of living water. The<br />
change in us produces results.<br />
In my Bible is a letter to our church,<br />
entitled “to the church in Laodicea.” I<br />
wish it said: “To the church called Victoria.”<br />
Laodicea and Samaria bear striking<br />
similarities, and differences.<br />
First, like Samaria, Laodicea has water.<br />
Laodicea had a stone aqueduct, a sign of<br />
civilization. Water runs in Laodicea, but<br />
because of inefficient filtration—so<br />
common with our spiritual life—and<br />
distance from the source, the water<br />
becomes lukewarm and unpleasant.<br />
Second, like Laodicea, our woman of<br />
Samaria had a long-term sin problem to<br />
which she had become accustomed.<br />
Laodicea used to be famous for its textile<br />
industry, especially for its black<br />
woolen fabric. Impressive in jackets,<br />
skirts, suits, and positions, we forget<br />
how much all these covers contrast with<br />
the “white robe” we need, and that we<br />
look naked in Jesus’ eyes.<br />
But our third comparison brings good<br />
news. As Jesus at the well offered “living<br />
water” for free, so He offers Laodicea<br />
everything we need “without money and<br />
without price” (Rev. 3:18; Isa. 55:1).<br />
In a fourth comparison we meet Jesus<br />
at the well at noon, now standing at the<br />
door in the evening; an evening that<br />
speaks of history’s approaching end, and<br />
of the importance of our daily communion,<br />
our evening (and morning) sacrifice.<br />
He is outside and wants to come in.<br />
He was thirsty at the well. He is hungry<br />
now, not only for a drink, but to share a<br />
feast with us. Once He sat at the well, now<br />
He wants to sit at the table (Rev. 3:20).<br />
In the end Samaria is as much about<br />
us as it is about a woman at a well.<br />
Samaria’s well is a story about the true<br />
source of Living Water, and the power<br />
that can unite Spirit and truth in our<br />
hearts and transform our disastrous<br />
yesterdays into glorious tomorrows. It<br />
is a story about how our lives can<br />
become a blessing for the whole world.<br />
Lord, give us this water! n<br />
Galina Stele serves as a<br />
research assistant in the Office<br />
of Archives, Statistics, and<br />
Research of the General<br />
Conference.<br />
26 (154) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Back to Basics<br />
A Partnership With Jesus<br />
While walking along 42nd street in New York City, a preacher saw a<br />
well-dressed man sitting on the sidewalk, face buried in his hands. He thought the poor fellow had slipped,<br />
fallen, and hurt himself, so he quickly walked over to help him.<br />
As the preacher came closer, he thought he recognized the man. When he got to where the man sat, he<br />
realized he did know him. It was the devil himself.<br />
The preacher said, “Devil, what are you doing, sitting here like this? You’re always busy breaking up marriages,<br />
corrupting governments, committing random acts of evil.”<br />
To this the devil replied with a sigh, “Hardly anyone is resisting me these days. They’ve left me nothing<br />
to do; everything’s going my way.”<br />
Everything seems to be going the devil’s way when we consider the news of the past 12 months here<br />
in the United States. During the hurricane season—June to November—tornadoes and hurricanes<br />
took more than 330 lives, leveled towns, and cost billions of dollars in property damage. Fifty percent<br />
of marriages, both in the church and the world, ended in divorce, while 34 percent of unwed<br />
teens had at least one pregnancy before turning 20. Untold numbers of abortions were performed,<br />
as our nation ranked second behind Russia in this killing field. Horrific mass murders occurred<br />
in a Colorado theater (July), at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin (August), at a manufacturing plant in<br />
Minnesota (September), and in the unthinkable nightmare in Newtown, Connecticut (December);<br />
not to mention more than 500 killed in Chicago, mostly teens, in this diabolical culture of violence. *<br />
Everything is going Satan’s way, or so it seems.<br />
Are we going to sit in our comfortable congregations this year and sing, “The Lord is in His holy<br />
temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him”? Or are we going to stand up for Jesus as soldiers of<br />
the cross and cry out against the consuming evil and change the world? We have the authority of God<br />
embodied in the divine commission of Matthew 28:19, 20.<br />
This commission is also a co-mission, a partnership with Jesus in His mission to relentlessly seek<br />
and save the lost (Luke 19:10). It is a co-mission that calls us to depend on Jesus to overcome evil with<br />
good as we make disciples of all people in our spheres of influence.<br />
If we accept this co-mission, we must be willing to serve God regardless of the circumstances in which<br />
we find ourselves. We must determine to finish what we start as ambassadors of Christ through whom<br />
He makes His appeal to the world (2 Cor. 5:20). If others try to persuade us that this co-mission is impossible,<br />
we must trust God, knowing that with Him all things are possible. If we feel as though our sacrifice<br />
isn’t producing the promised results and we’re getting bogged down in a blizzard of despair, we must dig<br />
deeper into the Word, such as Revelation 12:10-17.<br />
There we discover that we can and will overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by the testimony of<br />
Scripture, by keeping the commandments of God, and by holding to the testimony of Jesus.<br />
Remember, sometimes God allows His anointed ambassadors to share in Christ’s suffering (2 Cor. 12:7-9).<br />
Further, what Jesus said to Peter, He says to those of us who are devoted to Him: “Satan has asked to sift all<br />
of you as wheat,” but I am praying for you, “that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31, 32).<br />
For a time Satan appears to win. That sifting rid Peter of his least-attractive qualities, such as a blustery<br />
self-confidence, a chip on his shoulder, and a propensity to violence.<br />
Our time has come to be world-changers. If we encounter opposition, ridicule, or rejection, we shouldn’t<br />
let them draw us off course. We must testify, knowing that as Jesus prayed for Peter, He is now at the right<br />
hand of God interceding for us. Let’s testify, not under duress, but joyfully, according to the will of God; not<br />
for sordid gain, but with eagerness, for it is written: “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive<br />
the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:4).<br />
Hyveth<br />
Williams<br />
* Statistics have been taken from a variety of Internet sites.<br />
Hyveth Williams teaches homiletics at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (155) 27
Adventist Life<br />
The Eternal<br />
Can we<br />
find peace<br />
amid tragedy?<br />
BY LILIAN HAN IM<br />
This past February marked<br />
the 10-year anniversary of<br />
one of my most life-changing<br />
events. It spiraled me<br />
into a decade-long whirlwind,<br />
filled with unanswered questions<br />
and unfinished chapters. How my journey<br />
culminated with a simple realization<br />
is an astonishing testament to<br />
God’s unending story of hope.<br />
My brother, Brian, and I were very<br />
close growing up. Although Brian was 2<br />
years younger than I, he seemed more<br />
like an older brother. He had a certain<br />
confidence that enabled our relationship<br />
to flourish in that way. We became<br />
the closest during the semester I began<br />
graduate studies at Andrews University<br />
and he was accepted nearby into the<br />
esteemed Northwestern University honors<br />
medical program in Chicago. Our<br />
family and friends were ecstatic at his<br />
acceptance, yet somewhat surprised,<br />
because Brian had walked into his interview<br />
in unorthodox interview attire:<br />
maroon Dr. Martens boots, a plaid tie,<br />
and an antisuit blazer. He believed that<br />
he didn’t need to change who he was<br />
(outside or inside) just to be accepted at<br />
a school, no matter how prestigious.<br />
Life Changer for Brian<br />
A semester before he was due to celebrate<br />
the conquest of undergraduate<br />
studies, Brian began pondering whether<br />
28 (156) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
medicine was his true calling. He had on a mission trip overseas. I was so<br />
been serving as the lay youth leader at excited! I knew it would change his life,<br />
the local Adventist church and found but I never anticipated that it would<br />
himself neck high in ministry rather change mine. I was more excited than he<br />
than immersed in Northwestern’s<br />
was because I had recently worked for<br />
Chapter<br />
highly rigorous academics. Not everyone<br />
gets into a program that gives you a<br />
straight acceptance to medical school<br />
without sitting for the MCAT, * so realizing<br />
what would be jeopardized by a<br />
change in plans, I blasted him with sisterly<br />
advice: “Finish your last semester<br />
and then, maybe, think about seminary,”<br />
I said. “Don’t make such a rash decision<br />
at a dusty crossroad; wait on the Lord.”<br />
And my best one: “Take time away from<br />
this academic surrounding by serving as<br />
a student missionary overseas.”<br />
This last thought was not at all farfetched.<br />
Recently returned from Palau<br />
myself, I was preaching from my postmission<br />
high.<br />
I still remember his gentle, consistent<br />
reply: “Sis, there is so much to do here<br />
in the U.S. I don’t need to go overseas to<br />
find a mission field or a ministry; the<br />
person next to me is my mission field.”<br />
My brother lived his own life story. It<br />
didn’t make any sense to me for him to<br />
switch paths at that point; but somehow,<br />
even with all the prodding, in my heart I<br />
knew it was the right thing for him.<br />
Brian had found peace in his decision<br />
and heeded the call to pastoral ministry.<br />
He immediately transferred to Andrews<br />
University to enroll in the seminary.<br />
Life Changer for Me<br />
A few years later, Brian and I had a<br />
surprise announcement for each other.<br />
My news was that he was going to be an<br />
uncle. His news was that he was going<br />
the Adventist Volunteer Center at the<br />
General Conference office and had interacted<br />
with student missionaries and<br />
volunteers from all over the world. I<br />
was very enthusiastic about mission<br />
service overseas—and now my own<br />
brother was finally going to experience<br />
it for himself. As the Science Department<br />
chair at Garden State Academy in<br />
New Jersey and pastor of a local church,<br />
Brian would be joining a conferenceorganized<br />
mission team going to El Salvador.<br />
The group included Garden State<br />
Academy students, with my brother<br />
serving as a chaperone.<br />
Then late one night during the mission<br />
trip the phone rang. I was six<br />
months pregnant and feeling very nauseated,<br />
so I couldn’t answer it. Later I called<br />
my mom to find out what was going on.<br />
My uncle answered the phone, and then I<br />
knew something was terribly wrong. It<br />
was about the El Salvador mission trip.<br />
After a week of building an orphanage,<br />
the students and chaperones decided to go<br />
wading in the water along the beautiful<br />
shores of a small town. A spontaneous, roaring<br />
riptide swept them up, and without hesitation<br />
my brother and a lifeguard rushed<br />
into the water to rescue them. One by one,<br />
each student was brought safely ashore. As<br />
the last student was pulled in, he turned to<br />
hear my brother’s last cry, “Help me, Jesus!”<br />
He simply had run out of strength.<br />
Senseless Loss<br />
How could a loving God ignore such<br />
an earnest plea? How much more earnest<br />
could such a plea be? Why would<br />
He allow the life of such a faithful and<br />
bold soldier for Christ to end at the age<br />
of 26? For someone so overflowing with<br />
advice, at that moment I had<br />
no answers.<br />
My mind wrestled for reason<br />
and hope; despair overwhelmed<br />
me. I sank into a<br />
flood of anger. I hopelessly<br />
sought the peace that my<br />
brother had relentlessly lived<br />
by. I desperately scrambled to<br />
retract any credit for planting the idea<br />
of serving in an overseas mission. In the<br />
midst of my anguish, it took me a long<br />
time to realize that Christ had been gently<br />
tapping on my shoulder to tell me<br />
something that would give me a fragment<br />
of peace:<br />
My child, Lilian, Brian is not lost. I have<br />
not lost him; and you have not lost him either.<br />
His life is on pause. You did not send him to<br />
his death. He found a reason to live that was<br />
worth dying for. Besides, he is not gone from<br />
you forever. There are so many more pages to<br />
add to the chapters of his life.<br />
Renewed Hope<br />
Since that tragic time I have experienced<br />
a long and winding voyage, but I<br />
have now caught a glimpse of the waves<br />
of hope and peace in Him. In the words<br />
of a traveler on a similar journey, “My life<br />
with my brother has been put on pause,<br />
. . . but it will be continued in a short<br />
while, . . . and this story has no end.”<br />
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection, and<br />
the life. The one who believes in me will live, even<br />
though they die; and whoever lives by believing<br />
in me will never die’ ” (John 11:25, 26). n<br />
* standardized multiple-choice exam taken by prospective<br />
medical students<br />
Born and raised in New York,<br />
Lilian Han Im grew up wanting<br />
to teach children. She and her<br />
husband are now homeschooling<br />
their own children, Alexis<br />
and Austin, in Richmond, California.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (157) 29
The Life of Faith<br />
Andy<br />
Nash<br />
Further Testing<br />
I can’t imagine more polar emotions than the ones you experience<br />
while waiting to find out if you’re going to die. On one hand, you really, really don’t want to die. Your entire<br />
being strains against the thought, like when you’re underwater trying to come up for air and you keep<br />
bumping your head against a floating dock. Where’s the surface? Bump. Where’s the surface? Bump.<br />
WHERE’S THE SURFACE?<br />
But as much as you hate the idea of death, you find yourself feeling better than usual about your outlook<br />
on life. Suddenly the things that matter little do indeed matter little—and the things that matter most do<br />
indeed matter most.<br />
Later this morning I’m going in for “further testing.” It’s probably nothing, I was told at my last visit.<br />
And this reassures me; until I realize that “probably nothing” really doesn’t mean anything if it turns<br />
out to be something.<br />
So until I hear someone say, “It’s benign,” it’s very difficult for me to reenter that place where my<br />
mind is calm. I haven’t been myself the past few days; it’s hard to act natural around the girls when<br />
I haven’t told them how worried I am. Honestly, the one thing I cannot handle is the thought of<br />
sitting in the living room with Cindy this evening and telling the girls that Daddy has cancer. I<br />
simply cannot handle that right now. If it comes to that, Jesus Christ is going to have to handle it<br />
for me. Seeing my children hurting is at the very top of the things I hate.<br />
Ha! I’m reminded of a list the girls once playfully made about the places they especially hated<br />
going. It went like this:<br />
1. Home Depot/Lowe’s: where they have to stand in a very boring aisle of very boring materials<br />
2. The Men’s Wearhouse: where they have to stand among very boring clothes and shoes<br />
3. The oil change place: where they have to sit in a very boring waiting area with scattered newspapers<br />
and a TV that perpetually seems to play The People’s Court. We finally solved the problem by<br />
heading down the street to Salsarita’s Cantina for burritos, chips, and salsa. One of our favorite<br />
memories is running through a heavy rain from the oil change place to Salsarita’s laughing our<br />
heads off. Three years later, our youngest daughter, Summer, still talks about it.<br />
I love these girls so much and want nothing more than to watch them grow up—alongside<br />
Cindy, the love of my life. That’s why my own list of things I would most hate goes like this:<br />
1. Family members dying<br />
2. Me dying<br />
Yet, even as I reflect on this list, I realize how earth-centered it is. It’s all about life now. Is this really and<br />
truly what I ought to dread most—the loss of life on earth? I find my answer by realizing what God most<br />
dreads—not the loss of earthly life but the loss of eternal life. The things God most hates are:<br />
1. Anyone losing eternal life<br />
2. His Son dying<br />
If I’m really a believer, then my list should at least go like this, shouldn’t it?<br />
1. Family members losing eternal life<br />
2. Me losing eternal life<br />
3. Anyone else losing eternal life<br />
4. Family members dying<br />
5. Me dying<br />
Even with its lingering selfishness, this list still isn’t easy for me to digest. My flesh screams out against<br />
it. Though I may believe (and even teach) that one person’s earthly death can result in another’s eternal life,<br />
I don’t want to be that person. Not now—with my girls so young. I don’t want to sit down in the living room<br />
tonight. Again, if it comes to that, Jesus Christ is going to have to handle it for me.<br />
“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ ” (2 Cor. 12:9).<br />
Postscript: It was benign. n<br />
Andy Nash is a professor and pastor leading a family-friendly tour to Israel May 19-31. Contact him at andynash5@gmail.com.<br />
30 (158) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013
Reflections<br />
Let It Rain!<br />
This morning I went running in a very light and soft rain. I wouldn’t<br />
have run outside if it had been pouring with rain; I don’t like getting my running shoes squeaky wet and<br />
my clothes soaked. This felt more like a thick mist, and it was highly invigorating. It had been raining all<br />
night, and the air smelled wonderfully pine-fresh. The morning was hushed, and it was just me and the wide<br />
expanse of dark sky stretched above me with a hint of the dawn in the east.<br />
I lifted my face to the sky and suddenly had to smile. Why? Ever since I was a little girl of about 6 years old<br />
I can remember my mom telling me to lift my face to the sky when it rains, because “rain makes your face<br />
beautiful.” Or so she said. I guess that notion came in handy when she needed to lift my spirits on a rainy<br />
day when I couldn’t go outside to play, or if we happened to get caught in the rain while walking somewhere.<br />
But I believed her and dutifully lifted my face for the rain to wash it whenever I had the opportunity. And<br />
more than 30 years later I’m still doing it! What’s more, I’m telling my children to do it as well. It has become<br />
some kind of family tradition—something we do when it rains and we’re outside. It has been passed on<br />
from one generation to the next. What may have been one of those inspired moments when God gives a<br />
mother the right words for her children in a specific situation has turned into a wonderful lifelong memory<br />
and source of encouragement. Forget the dark clouds and hold your face into the rain. Turn the apparent<br />
obstacles into an opportunity. Lift your face to the sky, because rain makes it beautiful!<br />
Although science likely doesn’t support this premise, the passing on of these positive and encouraging<br />
words has created long-lasting memories for me. These small words and traditions are woven into the fabric<br />
of our family histories, and when we hand them down from one generation to another, we might actually<br />
be doing something deeply spiritual: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your<br />
soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall<br />
teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk<br />
by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:5-7, ESV). *<br />
Saying encouraging and positive words to our children—words that remind us and them of God’s continual<br />
love, even in the face of pelting rainstorms that will surely come our way—may create a small but<br />
lasting legacy that will ring all the way into eternity.<br />
I still don’t like rainy days, because I relish being outdoors and playing with my boys or working in the<br />
yard and enjoying nature. But then I think of my mom and smile. I go outside and look up, holding my face<br />
high, as I invite my three boys to do the same.<br />
Let it rain; let it rain. n<br />
* Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of<br />
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.<br />
Thandi Klingbeil lives with her husband, Martin, and their three children in Collegedale, Tennessee.<br />
www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | (159) 31